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Up Pompeii

Synopsis

Join us for an ORGY of LAUGHS!

A funny thing happens to Lurcio (Frankie Howerd) on the way to the rent-a-vestal-virgin market stall. A mysterious scroll falls into his hands, listing the names of all the conspirators plotting to murder Emperor Nero. And when the upstart slave is elected to infiltrate the ringleader's den, the comical ups-and-downs lead to total uproar.

Of all the camp, of their time 60's & 70's sitcoms that were re-aired for my generation in the 80's & 90's, Up Pompeii was probably my personal favourite. The key was that it broke the fourth wall and operated much like a play almost, with Frankie Howerd addressing the audience as Lurcio, the double-entendre spewing, exasperated slave in ancient Pompeii, and indeed reacting *to* said audience noises & laughs themselves at scripts often written by Talbot Rothwell, not well known enough as a great penner of farce post-war (he's responsible for the best Carry On films, mostly). The problem with the inevitable film translation is that not only does Rothwell not lie behind the typewriter, but that audience participation is gone.

Of all the camp, of their time 60's & 70's sitcoms that were re-aired for my generation in the 80's & 90's, Up Pompeii was probably my personal favourite. The key was that it broke the fourth wall and operated much like a play almost, with Frankie Howerd addressing the audience as Lurcio, the double-entendre spewing, exasperated slave in ancient Pompeii, and indeed reacting *to* said audience noises & laughs themselves at scripts often written by Talbot Rothwell, not well known enough as a great penner of farce post-war (he's responsible for the best Carry On films, mostly). The problem with the inevitable film translation is that not only does Rothwell not lie behind the typewriter, but that audience participation is gone.